Family, friends and supporters of Colten Boushie, have been attending court and speaking with reporters on the courthouse steps in Battleford this week at the Gerald Stanley seconddegree murder trial. Here is what two of those supporters had to say to freelance photographer Averil Hall.
Russell Badger from Mistawasis came to support the Boushie family.
"I came to let the family know that my family to theirs support them. When my people go to court it is a foregone conclusion on how it will turn out. We are at the mercy of the courts. The prisons are full of our people. Foster families are full of our people. Four per cent of Canadians are First Nations. In Social Services, half of the children are First Nations. First Nation is a 'Womb to the Tomb' business. Indigenous people, why can't the prosecution be allowed to have a First Nation person be on the jury? I used to volunteer at the penitentiary; they don't call it justice, they call it 'Just Us.' People wonder why that we had protest here in North Battleford when we blocked the bridge when we protested about Caledonia. What happens there and what happens here at this trial sets precedence. They rule us with fear and intimidation."
Gerald Wuttunee, former chief of Red Pheasant First Nation, said the Crown has a good case, and hopes the jury will come to the conclusion that this was an execution.
